Game Thread Ohio State 33, Washington 14 (Final)

[OCBucksFan]

If anything I thought our defense was too soft, missed far too many tackles, didn't press the recievers enough, had missed coverage assignments. I thought over-all our offense played far better than our defense. I thought the defense was good but not great. We bent but didn't break, got turnovers, pressured the QB, laid some good sticks on some people, but I think we need to shore up some things.

I thought that in the first half, the second half seemed to be more along the lines of what I have grown to expect. We got some fortunate turnovers and made the best of them. This is a young team, but, we seem to be on the right track. We went to a tough stadium, fell behind at the half and came back to dominate. Although, that last touchdown by Washington seemed like our defense was too Lax, call me greedy, but I wanted the second half shut out

 

[Steve19]

I'd just like to give Grad21 some support. The Big Ten has been an embarrassment. It's disappointing but true. Appalachian State. Duke, for goodness sakes. Iowa was talking smack all week and then lost against Iowa State. Minnesota has come apart at the seams. It doesn't help to compare to UCLA's ass-kicking by Utah, the problems at Texas against mediocre teams, etc. Teams in our conference are losing to teams that they should be beating by a wide margin.

What surprises me most is the lack of defense that some teams have shown, especially Wisconsin. Not sure what less than 100 yards in Ann Arbor meant today, but I think very little. So, I don't think Grad21 has been too critical, and I will bet Tressel and the coaches will be much more critical yet.

We were very lucky to not be down 10-3 on Todd's fumble, that so many of Todd's passes were dropped, and that we got away with yanking at Washington helmets far too much. Youngsters, making youngsters mistakes.

All of that considered, I am very proud of our youngsters today. They are learning and growing game by game. As Tressel said, they showed that they aspire today, not that they have arrived. I am very much looking forward to seeing what they accomplish.

 

[jlb1705]

1. Henton will NOT get a chance. I want to say that I was againast Todd ever starting in the first place, but I was wrong. I wanted Henton to start so badly because of how much he reminds me of Troy. After watching Boeckman though his passes have nice touch and when Boeckman gets warmed up in games he's a very good QB.

2. Boeckman is fine... Sure he threw some passes he shoudln't have, but they wound up incomplete so it's a mute point. He has a live arm, shows nice touch on the deep ball, and stands tall in the pocket. He is our QB for the next 2 years so I suggest you request a seat on his bandwaggon before it gets too full. He showed great throws to the outside, and threw darts in tight windows across the middle of the field for first downs numerous times. What more do we want from this kid? he throws for 58 percent, 200 yards, and 2 long Td's and we want more?

Here's what I think the case is... We've been straight up spoiled the last 3 years. Do we forget how awful this offense was in 2001-2003 (minus when Clarett was healthy)? Now all the sudden we almost get 500 yards offense and we're bashing our starting QB or saying the wow factor isn't there? I say who freakin cares... We WON, our o-line DOMINATED, Beanie was off the charts, and our recievers stepped up! Sure the offense isn't as explosive as 2006 but this offense is still getting positive yards and the best thing is.. we're YOUNG! This offense in general doesn't have a wow factor. Beanie doesn't even have a wow factor. His style, while it pleases me, won't please the rest the country. People wanna see running backs go around and juke and break the big one. Beanie is about getting his carries and bringing pain to the tackler and wearing down on the defense. The only person on this offense who has the potential to WOW anyone is Ray Small..

If anything I thought our defense was too soft, missed far too many tackles, didn't press the recievers enough, had missed coverage assignments. I thought over-all our offense played far better than our defense. I thought the defense was good but not great. We bent but didn't break, got turnovers, pressured the QB, laid some good sticks on some people, but I think we need to shore up some things.

I agree. Barring injury, Boeckman will probably be the man under center for the next two seasons. He is improving and will continue to improve. Two weeks ago he was making his first start and hadn't taken a meaningful snap in a game since he was a senior in high school five years ago. Also, they mentioned during the broadcast today that the staff is probably still trying to find out exactly what they have with this guy - what he does well and what he does not. The last few years, the offense revolved around Troy Smith's strengths. Todd Boeckman has different strengths, and it's gonna take time for those to come through and for the staff to exploit them fully. I think the team will be fine with Boeckman and for now criticism of his shortcomings should be somewhat tempered.

 

[23Skidoo]

1. Henton will NOT get a chance. I want to say that I was againast Todd ever starting in the first place, but I was wrong. I wanted Henton to start so badly because of how much he reminds me of Troy. After watching Boeckman though his passes have nice touch and when Boeckman gets warmed up in games he's a very good QB.

2. Boeckman is fine... Sure he threw some passes he shoudln't have, but they wound up incomplete so it's a mute point. He has a live arm, shows nice touch on the deep ball, and stands tall in the pocket. He is our QB for the next 2 years so I suggest you request a seat on his bandwaggon before it gets too full. He showed great throws to the outside, and threw darts in tight windows across the middle of the field for first downs numerous times. What more do we want from this kid? he throws for 58 percent, 200 yards, and 2 long Td's and we want more?

He did have a really bad 1st half, but I think he redeemed himself in the 2nd. I like that even when it wasn't working he didn't seem distressed or to crack. It was like he knew he just needed to keep working through it.
On a sidenote, Boeckmans' QB rating (per espn) is 152.4. Not all against patsies, and good enough for #3 in the B10 -- not that it means much though. I'm guessing anyone could do that in what amounts to the rich-mans' MAC.
He's also 22 nationally. Nothing spectacular, but very solid and much appreciated from me.

 

[bukIpower]

I hear ya on that one... We did a lot of GREAT things today, but did a lot of poor things today as well.

What I'm bout to say isn't just cuz I'm an Ohio State fan but its because its the truth... OSU is untouchable in the big ten as far as teams that are ELITE. Sure once in a while Wusconsin, PSU or Michigan beat us or sometimes we take 2nd in the big ten, but even when our teams are young we play at a very high level. When other teams in the conference lose players they are down and out for 1-2 years sometimes longer. We are the most consistent in just about every category possible as well. We'll be #1 in defense every year, and somewhere in the top 4 in offense as well. If we left our starters in long enough we would be in the top 2 every year on offense in the big ten. However, the way we get all our kids playing time and experience is WHY we don't fall off the face of the earth when we lose talent.

Who else in our conference could lose what we did last year and still be a top 10 team?

 

[Big Papa]

I thought that in the first half, the second half seemed to be more along the lines of what I have grown to expect. We got some fortunate turnovers and made the best of them. This is a young team, but, we seem to be on the right track. We went to a tough stadium, fell behind at the half and came back to dominate. Although, that last touchdown by Washington seemed like our defense was too Lax, call me greedy, but I wanted the second half shut out

my friend

 

[bukIpower]

good points by all though I would like to say..

You're right.. I bet the coaches still don't know what Boeckman's limits are. What we do know is that he has great touch on the deep ball!

also great point 23Skidoo... He never seems rattled does he? Now that you said something I totally missed that aspect of him. He's very calm, and knows this offense decently well for how many games he's started. Plus that QB rating is a good thing to see! If todd can progress at the rate he is we'll be a damn tough team to beat.

 

[OCBucksFan]

I agree. Barring injury, Boeckman will probably be the man under center for the next two seasons. He is improving and will continue to improve. Two weeks ago he was making his first start and hadn't taken a meaningful snap in a game since he was a senior in high school five years ago. Also, they mentioned during the broadcast today that the staff is probably still trying to find out exactly what they have with this guy - what he does well and what he does not. The last few years, the offense revolved around Troy Smith's strengths. Todd Boeckman has different strengths, and it's gonna take time for those to come through and for the staff to exploit them fully. I think the team will be fine with Boeckman and for now criticism of his shortcomings should be somewhat tempered.

Let's see how he does against Missagain, when Troy came out that first year against them it pretty much determined his future. Henton will get time to shine, he's a freshman, he'll be junior when he gets to start but should have a lot of knowledge of the system.

 

[WaitingforKickoff]

1. Henton will NOT get a chance.

Let me just say that you are entitled to your opinion, and I respect your opinion, because you do make some good points. But absolutely no one outside of the coaches have any say in whether Henton will get a chance. Things happen. The QB situation is very fluid. Boeckman has lead this squad to a 3-0 start. But who would have expected otherwise? Unless there are no bumps in the road and Boeckman improves dramatically with confidence, pocket presence, zip on his throws, Henton will in all likelihood get a chance. And let's be fair here, unless there is any returning QBs with a significant amount of experience, who are we to say that other QBs don't deserve at least a chance?

 

[bukIpower]

tresselbeliever... If you go back and read some of Henton's thread you'll see me crying for him to atleast see the field and get some playing time. However, unless we go on a major losing streak, Todd injures himself, or Todd throws 15 straight INT's I'm telling you Henton will get no shot at leading this team until 2009.

I think henton gives this offense more options, I think he would've better fit the offense we had last year, and I think its a shame Henton hasn't gotten more shots to pass the ball. However, Todd is playing well and with our schedule we probably won't lose many ball games. With saying that Tressel will not change QB's going into next year thats for sure.

So what you're telling me though is that Tressel who likes experience is going to sit a QB who is finally gaining tons of experience and confidence for a kid who has absolutly no experience or confidence? I doubt that Tressel would be willing to basically start from square one by putting A. Henton in because thats essentially what we'd be doing if Tressel finally decides however many games into the season that Antonio is our man. If there was any time for Antonio to lead this offense it was back when spring ball started. Henton had his shot when none of the QB's had experience and it was all about how they practiced, but Todd came out on TOP. Now that Todd came out on top he has the most experience and he will be leading this team baring some sort of disaster. Is it the right choice? who knows because I don't think we've seen enough of Henton what so ever.. However we know what we have in Todd now, and we won't be taking a leap of faith into the unknown of Antonio.

 

[Zem]

It was uplifting to see such a dominating performance from the OLine and DLine. Although UW reminded me of Willingham's Notre Dame teams that were getting pushed around in the trenches.

I feel like the Bucks gave up that first TD only because they let up on the pressure at least the first two plays of the drive.

UW seemed to dropped a lot of passes that maybe Purdont's receivers likely will connect on for 1st downs. But I think our D can make life very difficult for any of our 2007 opposing offenses if they keep pressure on like they did today. Notably PSU, as Morelli was said to have had problems today with Buffalo's marauding defense. :tongue2: At least in the 1st half.

Great win for the Buckeyes! They achieved something mentally significant today, as well, that should manifest itself in confidence. It had been an awfully long time since a Buckeye team won on the west coast.

The sting of the 40-7 loss at UW in 1986 has been ameliorated for me personally, so that's a relief. That game was so painful to watch I don't think I'll ever forget it.

 

[808 Buck]

Might as well throw my two cents in. I saw a young team take another step forward. First road game for a lot of guys who haven't played in crunch time, and many stepped up. Now, the real season starts. To be honest, I see a lot of battles ahead. This is not a great Ohio State team, right now. Let me emphasize, right now. This team has the potential to do great things, but they must continue to grow. Nobody left on the schedule looks unbeatable, yet the Bucks need to up their game. I foresee a wild Big Ten season, from everyone, not just tOSU. That's what make college football great.

 

[TRON]

Then why don't they wait until two years from now to talk about him like he's the best thing since sliced bread?

It's more like Jesus Christ they way they were talking about that kid. Even after 3 INT's I herd someone say something about him and Kevin Durant are the two biggest stars in Seattle.

 

[OCBucksFan]

It's more like Jesus Christ they way they were talking about that kid. Even after 3 INT's I herd someone say something about him and Kevin Durant are the two biggest stars in Seattle.

The kids just a freshman and he was pretty damned impressive. Say what you want, he faced one helluva defense today and if you look at the Pac-10, he's gonna have a good shot over the next few years.

 

[NFBuck]

I'd just like to give Grad21 some support. The Big Ten has been an embarrassment. It's disappointing but true. Appalachian State. Duke, for goodness sakes. Iowa was talking smack all week and then lost against Iowa State. Minnesota has come apart at the seams. It doesn't help to compare to UCLA's ass-kicking by Utah, the problems at Texas against mediocre teams, etc. Teams in our conference are losing to teams that they should be beating by a wide margin.

What surprises me most is the lack of defense that some teams have shown, especially Wisconsin. Not sure what less than 100 yards in Ann Arbor meant today, but I think very little. So, I don't think Grad21 has been too critical, and I will bet Tressel and the coaches will be much more critical yet.

We were very lucky to not be down 10-3 on Todd's fumble, that so many of Todd's passes were dropped, and that we got away with yanking at Washington helmets far too much. Youngsters, making youngsters mistakes.

All of that considered, I am very proud of our youngsters today. They are learning and growing game by game. As Tressel said, they showed that they aspire today, not that they have arrived. I am very much looking forward to seeing what they accomplish.

Good post Steve. Everybody look at the word I highlighted in the quote. We are rotating in a lot of very young kids, and still 3-0 with one of the nations best defenses. Credit the staff.

From Stuart Mandel's Saturday observations on cnnsi...

The Buckeyes are definitely not suffering from Michigan-itis (though Washington QB Jake Locker is suffering from a massive case of Laurinaitis right about now). Their offense may not be as explosive as last year?s, but QB Todd Boeckman played error-free ball in his first big road start and let OSU?s dominating D take it from there.

I don't know about Todd being "mistake free", but the D looked pretty damn good. Classic bend-don't break in the 1st half, and just dominating in the 2nd.